Byzantium Trailer

The Byzantium trailer fits into some of the conventions surrounding vampires as it maintains similar imagery to what we would imagine in a vampire film. For example throughout the trailer the main colour scheme is black and red, and these are the colours generally associated with this genre. In one scene, the mother bathes in blood and blood is an image associated with vampires due to them sucking blood from peoples' necks and being generally violent. Another scene involves one of the characters being surrounded by bats which is one of the main images that we consider to be associated with vampires. The film does challenge certain conventions but in terms of imagery they use most of the main images. One change which they do make in the film is the way the vampires feed on their prey. The women in the film, rather than having fangs, both have long, pointed nails which they use as a way of cutting the necks of their prey and they feed with their hands rather than sucking the blood from their neck. Despite this being a subtle detail in the trailer this challenges one of the main conventions associated with vampires and also makes the film seem more female based as long nails are linked to women more than men.

Light and darkness is a main theme in the trailer and these both challenge and fit into conventions. At the very start of the trailer, the girl and her mother are walking through a field in the day time. Although the weather is musky they are surviving in daylight, something that stereotypical vampires can't do. The daughter goes to school with humans meaning she would have to be at school during the day and she can do this without any negative effects, so this convention is challenged. Despite this darkness is a main theme used throughout the trailer as they have ensured the colours are generally dull.

The location of this film has aspects of fitting into the conventions but it also goes against them. There are multiple settings in the trailer such as a beach, city and a cave, which wouldn't usually be considered as places suited for vampires. The cave fits some conventions as caves are isolated places and aren't lived in by humans so the mysterious or lonely feel of them ties in  with the settings that vampires usually live in. Vampires would generally be considered to live somewhere historical like a castle, or an isolated place like forests or dungeons so caves are similar to these but less likely to be associated with vampires. The beach is an unusual setting as it is a very open place and would generally be considered a positive setting due to them being related to holidays and sun. The beach in this film looks duskier and more isolated which ties in with the connotations of vampire settings, but as a general place it is considered unusual for vampires to stay there. Cities are urban so they are usually busy and this is an unlikely place for vampires to live.

Women are the dominant gender in this trailer which goes against conventions as when people think of vampires they think of males more than females. In the film the mother is fighting to be accepted into the group of male vampires and one states that they are a brotherhood and there are no women there. The film challenges the idea that women are the inferior gender but also fits some gender stereotypes as the mother is very sexualised. While her daughter wears baggy clothes and tries to cover up, the mother is shown to be dressed in tighter and more revealing clothes. She also acts seductively around male prey which suggests she uses her sexual appeal to hunt her prey. Her clothes are fairly aristocratic but are still revealing so she has the historical look that vampires have without losing her sexualised look. Themes of desire run throughout the film as the scenes in the trailer suggest the mother gets pleasure from feasting and the sexualised nature of the women highlight this theme.

Another theme that is generally considered to be seen in vampire films is the idea of mystery and secrets. This theme is used as the daughter is shown writing about her mother then throwing the pages into the wind so as to stop people reading them.